60 Community Radio Broadcasters Awarded Training Certificate on Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Prevention & Building the Knowledge in Bangladesh. ABU (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union) and UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) Media for DRR initiative organized four days long two training sessions from 8-11 and 15-18 February 2021 for Community Radio Broadcasters of Bangladesh through an online platform in cooperation with Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC).

The training aimed to enhance the ability of community radio broadcasters to provide useful information for climate change adaptation and disaster prevention & building the knowledge base for DRR through media for community broadcasting in Bangladesh.

There were altogether 7 hours of online training divided into two streams four hours of DRR content production and three hours of technical applications and early warning messages. A total of 60 community radio broadcasters attended the training. Ms. Natalia Ilieva of ABU welcomed the participants in both the training and Ms. Ruchi Malhotra of ABU provided all-out support for the training.

The training sessions were brief but the discussions focus on main points and help Community Radio Broadcasters practice one or two good examples of DRR stories.

General debrief on the seven blocks of the DRR learning Hub. What did they learn? What are the essential messages? How much time do they spend on risk reduction issues in the daily coverage? How do they cover disasters? What resources and capacities do they dedicate to disaster coverage? What will change for them now? DRR tips and questions that generate DRR issues. For this session, each participant shared their last report on a national or local disaster and saw as a group how DRR questions could have been raised and covered.

The objective was to create a more proactive approach to DRR Before joining the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) interactive session. What could their organization do to take advantage of CAP-enabled public alerting across all media? Why do they think some countries in your region have not yet implemented CAP across all types of hazards?

How to turn global, macro issues into relevant, local, micro-stories and engage cross-generational audiences. For this session journalists to watch an investigative piece on the last Palu Tsunami and discuss new ideas on disaster prevention reporting in their country. The objective is to raise the profile of DRR issues outside the news agenda with deeper, more detailed programming.

Disaster Risk Reduction in documentaries and educational programs, for this session journalists to watch an investigative piece on the last Tsunami in Indonesia and discuss new ideas on disaster prevention reporting in their country. Participants learned how to produce short DRR stories relevant to their country to be discussed in the last session. Feedback on the DRR stories and Action Plan for 2021.

The objective was to show the participants that this is a long-term issue that would enable them to network with organizations on a global level to share ideas, projects, and materials. Storylines and potential series concepts should be discussed- the next step would be followed-up, progression meetings during the coming year. Working with key partners in-depth explanations of relevant weather events and phenomena.

The training was over four days and has seven one hour-sessions four hours on content and 3 hours on more technical issues for Early Warnings and Weather Forecast. The content sessions were delivered by Mr. Saachi Jain, Mr. Elliot Christian, Mr. Ean Wallace, and Mr. Atiq Kainan Ahmed discussed in the training.

The participants of the training were:

Mamun Hossain, Sr. Program Producer, Sabbir Hossain, Program Producer, Selim Sharier, Station Manager, Rasida Aktar, Asst. Producer of Radio Nalta,

Sanjoy Chowdhury, Station In-charge, Md. Sahid Uddin, Asst. Producer, Tufayelur Rahman, Asst. Producer, Md. And, Reporter of Radio Sagar Giri,

Md. Salman, Program Producer, Fatima Akter Kajol, Asst. Producer, Farkrul Islam Roni, Head of Program, Md. Shobuj Miya, Program Producer of Radio Lokobetar,

Shamim Mridha, Producer, Tamanna Tasnim, Volunteer, Shahnaz Parvin, Scriptwriter, Mehedi Hasan Shazib, Volunteer of Community Rural Radio Krishi,

Mariya Jannat Laboni, Program Producer, Mowshumi Rani Das, News Producer, Nishi Begum, Asst. Station Manager, Jasmin Begum, Asst. Producer & Reporter of Radio Meghna,

Abul Boshir, Technical Officer, Mahfuza Akter Munni, Programmer, Samira Aktar, Asst. programmer, Harun Rashid, Producer of Radio Naf,

Papia Sultana, Station Manager, Tahmina Akter, Asst. Program Producer, Salman Mohammad Faravi, Asst. Program producer, Momena Akter, Asst. Program producer of Radio Sagardwip,

Sadia Sultana (Nipa), Asst. Program Producer, Farhana Rahim Suchi, Volunteer, Sabiha Begum, Volunteer, Sajnin Tabassum Jahan, Volunteer of Community Radio Saikat, Cox’s Bazer.

Rakibul Hasan, Program Producer, Hakim Sana, Focal Person, Shuvo Saha, Reporter, Rozina Parvin, Reporter of Community Visual Radio Voirab, Bagerhat District

Bakhtiar Hossain, Radio In-Charge, Mashudul Bari Rafi, Program Producer, Mohitul Mawla Nalin, Program Producer, Md. Abdul Hakim, Reporter of Community Visual Radio Dwip, Sandwip Island

Monasib Foysal, Station Manager and Masud, Station In charge of radio Boral,

Md. Al-Amin, Station In-charge and Sharmin Sultana, Producer of Radio Pollikantha,

Md. Ariful Islam, Sr. Station In-charge, and Md. Mehedi Hasan, IT officer of Radio Mukti,

Md. Musfiqur Salahin, Senior Program Producer and Mohammad Awlad Hossain Khan, Station Manager of Radio Bikrampur,

Md. Rezaul Karim, Senior Program Producer, and Fatima Tuj Johora Asst. program Producer of Radio Mohananda,

Rakib Kazi, Broadcaster and Manager Sharif Uddin, Asst. Producer of Radio Borendro, Mahfuj Faruque, Sr. Station Manager and Akhi Akter, Asst. Producer of Radio Sarabela,

Rasheduzzaman, Program and News Presenter and Munna Islam, Program and News Presenter of Radio Padma,

Bashir Ahmed, Station Manager, and Komal Barman, Producer of Radio Chilmari,

Marzia Rahman Rochi, Asst. Program Producer and Yeasmin Jahan Mim, Sr. Program Produce of Radio Jhinuk.

The participant’s awarded certificates for their participation in the training.

The community radio Broadcasters have ample knowledge working with cyclones, floods during the last couple of years and the training enriched their knowledge further. Because the training aimed to build up the updated DRR knowledge of the participants.  The training created an opportunity for the participants to learn some new issues on disaster risk reduction. The participants learned about creating a more proactive approach to DRR before joining the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) interactive session and what is the advantage of CAP-enabled public alerting across all media. They learned about to turn global, macro issues into relevant, local, micro-stories and engage cross-generational audiences.

The participants have learned a long-term opportunity that will enable them to network with organizations on a global level to share ideas, projects, and materials. Storylines and potential series concepts were discussed- the next step by follow-up, progression meetings during the coming year. Working with key partners in-depth explanations of relevant weather events and phenomena. The technical sessions by world experts’ facilitators made the program a success. Finally, the participants will practice their learning in their content development for the greater interest of community people.